Primary care providers need to provide culturally appropriate patient-centered care to diverse populations. Muslim women are a population for whom the issues in the provision of such care have not yet been explored in detail. In the fall of 2004, the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in collaboration with other departments, will host the 1st Conference on Patient-centered Care for Muslim Women in the US. The goal of the conference is to bring together national experts to discuss and deliberate issues in providing culturally appropriate, patient-centered care for Muslim women in the US. The conference participants will set a research agenda for a comprehensive study of the health needs of Muslim women in the United States. Over the course of 1 ? days the attendees will have the opportunity to hear a keynote address by a nationally recognized scholar on Women in Islam, and participate in plenary sessions and workshop sessions. The conference will be a critical first step in setting the stage for the development of policies and procedures to ensure the provision of culturally-appropriate, patient-centered care for Muslim women. A consensus developed through this forum will be published in the form of a white paper or an executive summary, which will be distributed nationwide. The information also will be posted on a web site for wider dissemination. The findings from this conference will have broad ranging implications, not only for primary care providers but for all specialties and disciplines involved in providing care to Muslim women and their families. The proposed conference will be planned as the first in a 3 year series; each conference will build upon the work of the preceding, take stock of accomplishments and gaps, and define future directions.